Trapped in the Web
by The Smiling Crow
Summary: When Danny and many others buy a game, they get a bit more in-depth than they'd like. In a race against time, the citizens of Amity and Danny and his friends need to figure out who is behind the entire thing before it's too late. A gift short fic for RoxyConan-Kun.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is dedicated to RoxyConan-Kun for being my 100th follower to Danny Phantom Reversal. She suggested the theme and I tried to run with it. She suggested a theme along the line of Sword Art Online and Danny getting himself trapped in it. Admittedly, I didn't watch SAO, but my brother and sister love it and showed me the first episode, so I have a brief understanding to work off of which I melded with another idea suggestion that Danny get stuck in Doomed.**

 **I honestly got a case of writer's block, so this was pretty great. It was nice to try something different for a while and to write something on a completely different track. It won't be as long as most of my other stories and probably not as descriptive or detailed, but I put up a notepad document and it looks like a promising story.**

 **So, without further adieu, I don't own Danny Phantom or Sword Art Online. Nor any of the games referenced in later chapters. For simplicity, this applies in the future as well. I OWN NOTHING! DON'T SUE ME!**

 **-Crow**

* * *

Danny bounced up and down on his heels hyperactively. It could've been the excitement for the release of the new Game-Of-The-Year "Doom: Termination"… or it could easily have been the 12 espresso shots he and Tucker took all night to stay in their spot.

He started seeing spots and his bouncing slowed down. He looked at Tucker and could see he was also starting to crash. Then, like a guardian angel, Sam appeared with two more espresso shots. She rolled her eyes as they downed it and their eyes visibly dilated before resuming their bouncing.

"Seriously? You guys are getting really worked up over just a video game." Sam shook her head. Danny looked affronted.

"Really, Sam? Really? This isn't "just a video game", this is _the_ video game of the _year_! Ever since they announced it the beta testers have been on the forums nonstop about how cool it is! Plus, there's supposedly a super-secret application to it! The entire company's sworn to secrecy! This isn't just a game, it's a _legacy_!" He shouted excitedly. Random nerds around him clapped and a few even wiped away a tear.

Sam sighed. "Okay, I just hope they open up soon. I'm not sure your bodies could handle another shot."

Tucker tapped away at his phone. "Well, we shouldn't have to wait long. If their website is right they should be opening right about-"

"Look!"

The line of geeks and gamers swiveled their heads to see a pimply college student get out of his car and stare wide-eyed at the mass. He gulped in fear as their eyes hungrily looked at his key ring. He edged away from the line towards the front door. The silence was deafening as the quiet jingle of his keys echoed on the street.

He took out one specific one and glanced apprehensively at the line. Steeling himself he raised a shaking hand and slipped the key into the hole.

*ch-chink*

"YEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The crowd was explosive as the employee rushed inside and ducked behind the counter. He grabbed one of the novelties off the shelves which happened to be an M1 army-grade helmet. He huddled cowering behind the counter wondering if this was what it was like for his Grandpa back in WWII.

The middle-aged store manager had prepared for this and there were a few air-port ropes that lead from the entrance to the stack of games to the counter to the exit. He knew it was pandemonium and had prepared for the worst. Ironically, he also grabbed an M1 army helmet with a "general" ranking star on the side.

The employee stood up from behind the counter shakily. "Sir! What do we do?!"

The manager got caught up in the moment. "On your feet, soldier! We are here to make a stand and by God we're going to make a stand! We may be outnumbered, but we're going to show the enemy just what this means! This is for America, private! Save your ammo and only shoot when you see the whites of their eyes!"

The employee was confused. "Sir! We can't shoot the customers!"

The manager looked sheepish. "Er. Right, well, then just corral them in an orderly fashion! Then, be sure to tell them about our sale on Tuesday!"

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

(AN: God bless the troops. What you're doing is honorable and we are truly grateful. I just wrote this in the heat of the moment and couldn't bring myself to delete it because I thought the situation was funny.)

The store manager's system worked perfectly. Systematically, nerds, geeks, and gamers alike were in and out of the store in minutes with a large box of the game and "secret interface" in their hands.

Danny and Tucker were soon outside as well, grinning like loons, each with their own black and purple box. Sam rolled her eyes at their excitement. "Seriously, it's just a game. I don't see why you had to torture yourselves all night for it."

Tucker put his hand not on the box on her shoulder and shook his head sadly. "Sam, Sam, Sam. You don't understand the true value and meaning when you stand in front of a store in a sleeping bag or tent for over 24 hours to get the perfect game. It's a birthright of gamers! A necessary evil we must endure for that one shining moment when we finally have it in our possession."

Sam smirked. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know what it's like. I've already been playing it for over a week."

Tucker gaped wide-eyed. "Y-you mean y-y-your-"

"Beta Tester 003." Sam supplied. Danny and Tucker were mirror images of shock and awe. Finally, Tucker broke from his trance and fell to his knees in front of her.

"Please teach us!" He begged. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Pl- _ack_!"

He was shut up as Sam stuffed a scone from the coffee shop into his mouth. He grimaced at the dry pastry before Sam continued. "Look, I was told not to tell you guys what the game is about before the initial start-up, okay? All I can tell you is that it's pretty sweet and to follow the instruction manual on the "super secret interface"." She held her hands up in air quotes as she started walking away. Tucker trailed behind her, still trying to ask questions even though his cheeks were puffed with the amount of scone in his mouth.

Danny just watched him leave and hoped he wouldn't choke. He looked back down at the game in his hands. Admittedly, it was pretty heavy for just a disk. He excitedly pictured what the secret was.

He rushed home to his room before tearing open the box. Inside was an average DVD-case sized box containing the disk itself, a wad of paper that was likely the instruction manual, and another blank, white box in it.

Just picking it up, he could tell this was what most of the weight was centered around. He carefully cut the tape open and pulled out what looked like a complicated bike-helmet with silica circuit lines running along just underneath a protective plastic shell. He turned it upside down and looked inside at what looked like a few contact nodes, a visor, and insulated earphones.

 _A Virtual Reality helmet!_

He grinned. Now this was pretty wicked. He could see why the company didn't want this getting out, this could change the very foundation of gaming entirely! He eagerly looked at the instructions and absorbed the material.

He frowned slightly at a few tidbits. The helmet instructions specifically said that the feed was taken from the computer to the helmet, so people outside couldn't see what you saw or heard. Most teenagers would have to accept it as just being a normal function of the helmet itself.

Then again, most teenagers don't have a specially designed VR helmet in their basement.

* * *

"Let's see; red wire to yellow wire, blue wire to green wire, that plug into that port..." Danny murmured to himself as he performed the actions. Less than 5 minutes after he opened the box, he went downstairs to his family's basement and came up with the Fenton Helmet and a few spare tools. His parents were out, but he was sure they wouldn't mind it if he borrowed some of their equipment.

Contrary to what his grades reflected, he wasn't the son of two certified geniuses for nothing.

He opened up the VR helmet provided with the game as well as his family's own Fenton Helmet invention. He was currently in the middle of a vast array of wires and conduits leading between the helmets as he tried optimizing the effects.

He carefully connected a few wires. "…aaaaannnd." *zap!* The wire sparked as the connection was made and both helmets lit up and started whirring to life! "Sweet! It worked!" Danny cheered.

He immediately checked that the ports were in the right spots in the computer before turning on his computer and launching the game itself and the online connection. Less than 10 minutes later, he was rewarded with a screen giving instructions for him to put on the helmet and begin.

He stuck the VR helmet they provided, unaware of two contact nodes touching the base of his neck.

His vision was black for a second until a musical *ping* was heard and a calm, female voice speak in his ear. "Welcome to the Dalv Corporation's virtual reality helmet. In this you will experience the game like never before. Please get comfortable and take this time to find the mouse. Click the "Start" button and begin your experience."

As soon as he clicked "Start", a small arc of electricity jumped between his spine from the two contact nodes. His body went completely limp in the chair and the screen popped up displaying an intricately designed artificial forest world.

" _This is so cool!_ " A voice sounded from the speaker system. But the body didn't move a muscle save for breathing and heartbeat.

All across Amity Park and a few cities over, kids, teens, young adults, and some adults were in the exact same position, but their screens were completely black with only a single, green text message.

 **The Games Have Begun.**

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I'm sorry I haven't gotten this out sooner, but my deadlines are pretty stressful. I'll finish the story, trust me, but it may take some time, especially around late September.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

 **I don't own SAO or Danny Phantom (nor any video games mentioned).**

 **-Crow**

* * *

Danny looked around the forest. The textures were perfect. Everything from the wisps of the clouds to the roughness of the bark and the lichen flowering on it as well was detailed down to precision. From what he could tell it was an idyllic deciduous forest like something out of a fairy tale.

He looked down and saw he was in a classic tunic with a gray vest and a brown, leather pouch across his shoulder at his hip. He experimentally moved his arms and was impressed when they moved on command with his thoughts. He tapped the pouch and his vision had a small screen with a couple empty boxes for his inventory. Only one box had something; a "classic wooden sword". He tapped it and it materialized in his right hand.

"This is so cool!" He shouted aloud. He waved the sword around experimentally and, just for the heck of it, swiped it at some tall grass nearby. The grass cut cleanly and he watched for a few seconds as it regrew.

He tapped his sword to his pouch and it vanished back into it. He looked around and saw a dirt road leading somewhere with a signpost conveniently in the center. One sign pointed one way and said "Still in development" the other said "Gamers please follow this way".

The dirt road opened to a small clearing where he saw two figures milling around. Looking at the faces he was surprised to see them being very realistic. "Sam! Tucker!"

The two turned around. Tucker was wearing some traditional "poofy pants" and a likewise "poofy" hat complete with a lute across his back. Danny tried not to snicker as he noticed Tucker had tights on, but failed miserably. Tucker grimaced and crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah, laugh about it why don't you. How come you get the cool 'hero' costume?"

"What do you mean 'hero' costume, Tucker?" Sam asked.

"Oh, come on. Seriously? The tunic, the vest, the not-'poofy'-pants, the pouch. That's classic Legend of Zelda style hero right there, just without the girly skirt thing Link had." Tucker explained.

Sam scoffed. "Whatever, guys."

To be honest, she was so-so on hers. It was a dress, yeah, but it was a gothic combat-style dress made almost entirely of black leather with a dark cloak around it. She had two belts looped around her chest with potion vials ready and some druid trinkets hanging in her hair or around her person. She had designed her character to be the "enchantress" kind of person.

It wasn't her usual huge, black, knight costume of Chaos, but it'd do for now.

They started exploring the area as Sam explained the game. "So, essentially this is a sort-of _Minecraft_ meets _Dungeons & Dragons_ with a _Bloodborne_ storyline of just mostly exploration and bosses. Somewhere is a village where you can trade or buy or even get a job for a while. This is one biome. The first time I got in, I got dropped in a meadow biome. We actually got lucky, the forest biome is pretty great.

"So, we can collect some stones and metal ore to smelt it later and collect resources. The bushes have berries that are labeled either poisonous or not, so there's no guesswork, though poisonous berries come in handy for assassination missions and potions. We don't need to worry about that just yet.

"Anyway, for now, let's just get a feel for some things and get food and shelter. Unlike _Minecraft_ we don't have creepers or zombies… well, zombies appear in the swamp biome, but we should be pretty far from those. We will have to worry about wolves, wraiths, and bears."

"Wraiths?" Tucker asked.

"Yep. Each biome has a mythical creature or two. Mountains have goblins and trolls. Swamps have zombies and witches. Meadows have ghosts and giant birds. Forests have wraiths and one person says it has Slenderman, too."

Danny snickered. "Isn't that copyright infringement?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Moving on, let's try to find some food. We can get vegan meals from bushes, mushrooms, and leaves or we can get meats from-"

SQUEEEE!

They were cut off by something like a pig, but much… larger. The bushes around them tore apart and revealed a pretty decent-sized boar angrily eyeing them. Sam took a battle-ready position and Tucker and Danny followed suit.

"Okay, flank it!" She ordered. She unholstered several potions vials and threw them at the creature. It squirmed as a few acidic solutions burned its skin while another caused a smokescreen.

Danny activated his sword and took position on the right side.

Tucker smirked at the flailing boar. "Ready yourself, foul creature! For you are about to face Lord Tucker's mighty-" A guitar-like instrument appeared in his hand. "LUTE!?"

The boar sensed his panic and aimed a tusk at him. The normally very unathletic teen scaled a tree in record time and rested on a branch about five or six feet above the raging boar. Danny took the opportunity of the distraction to take a swipe at the animal while its attention was off of him.

The creature squealed in pain before rounding on the halfa's avatar. It charged, it's tusks ready to make him a human shish kabob. He dodged just in time to take a swing and damage the boar. It bucked around him, wildly trying to hit him.

Danny was having the time of his life. "Ha! Come on! Toro! Toro! Er, Tuck! What's the Spanish name for pig? Ha! Is that all you-"

He was cut off to grimace as a tusk grazed his forearm, leaving a light gash. He stared at the spot, barely processing the fact that he felt pain from a VR helmet when the boar turned back to him.

Tucker crashed down from the tree. "Danny! Dude, look out!"

In his panic, he accidentally grabbed his lute and strummed. A blue shockwave emanated straight from the instrument to the boar, knocking it into a tree. The boar flickered away and seven "raw porkchop" entities and a "raw hide" took its place.

Tucker stared in amazement at the instrument. "Oh, baby, my sweet, sweet lute!" He kissed it before putting it back in his pouch.

Sam went over to a nearby plant and pulled it up, making it into a few entities. She quickly grabbed the "healing cream" entity and applied it to Danny's arm. "There, Danny. Instant health."

Danny furrowed his brow. "Yeah, but why did it hurt?"

"What do you mean 'it hurt'?" Tucker asked. Danny walked up to him and quickly grabbed his arm before pinching some skin. "Ow! Hey, that hurt! Oh, wait…"

The trio paled as they took this new situation into account. Danny cautiously reached up to his head, fully expecting the feel of the smooth, plastic covering on the helmet.

His hands met only "hair".

* * *

 **What do you think? Be sure to review!**

 **I don't own Slenderman, either (Victor Surge does).**

 **Until next time!**

 **-Crow**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long haitus. I'm still alive and I'll still finish this story. I've just been really busy lately.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story!**

 **-Crow**

* * *

Mrs. Fenton walked around the kitchen, humming as some cookies baked in the oven. A timer *dinged* and she put on a glove and took them out. Yep, 12 perfectly uniform chocolate chip cookies.

She arranged each in their own separate, sterilized pitri dish and put on her goggles. She tapped a quick button and a recording device started up before she spoke while taking measurements. "Test 1. Sample: A classic roll of cookie dough. Baked at 350 degrees Farhenheit for 35 minutes. 12.5 grams in weight. 2.4 inches in diameter. Application, ectoplasm solution: 30% by volume."

She dipped a small dropper in a glowing green solution before dropping a few samples onto the cookie. She watched as the area of application dissolved a bit before being soaked into the cookie itself. The baking confectionary shuddered as four spider-like legs sprouted from the base. The subject escaped the pitri dish and started climbing up the walls as Maddie observed. It hissed menacingly at her before beginning to spin a web out of gluten and chocolate in the corner.

Maddie started the recorder back up. "Test subject appears standard. No differences to the others. It seems to be using more chocolate in its web this time, though." She calmly turned it off before aiming an oversized weapon at the creature. A quick blast later and the culinary monstrosity was gone- along with a good portion of plaster and wall.

She was just about to prep Sample 2 when her husband barged in. "Mads! Come quick!"

She put down the bottle and rushed over to the TV in the living room showing Lance Thunder with a breaking report.

" _Parents everywhere are terrified as their children have been essentially abducted into a game. Initially thought to just be reluctance to getting out of a game quickly escalated to fear as those using the newest game, Doom: Termination, have been completely unresponsive to any attempts from the outside._

 _"The newest installment of the Doom series has a feature that many claim is revolutionary; virtual reality. The player is immersed in the environment using a visor to simulate a screen and earphones. Through these complex measures, it uses the environment around the player to alter sounds and images to match their commands._

 _"However, in a terrifying turn of events, it appears as though this helmet is actually hijacking their minds, preventing any brain signals from leaving the neural center._

 _"Police suspect possible terrorism given an unusual message left on the computers of the game. It is unknown exactly what is going on or how this is happening, but scientists strongly recommend against removing the player from an apparent 'Virtual Reality' helmet as it could cause serious brain damage._

 _"Researchers at Dalv Corporation are denying any responsibility and claim that this mysterious product was not worked on in their laboratories. We also believe- chchchcshshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_ "

The message was cut short as the picture went completely blurry. In its place was a figure that was backlit. All that was visible were two glowing, red eyes, everything else was just a black mass in the general shape of a human.

" _Hello everyone._ " The voice purred. " _I apologize for interrupting this broadcast, or silence. Those who were not currently watching the news will find that their televisions suddenly turned on. Hehehe. I'm afraid I did that. I'm also the one who is responsible for the abduction of your children._

 _"Don't fret, they are fine in my care, though they may not be if I don't get what I want."_ His eyes brightened menacingly before he continued. " _My demands are simple. A couple hundred thousand dollars, a standard for hostage situations, perhaps swearing undying allegiance to me. I know a few parents are rather influential. And lastly, I want Madeline Fenton on an untraced air jet heading for… oh, I don't know, how about Minnesota. If they aren't met, I'll send an electrical impulse through every brain with a helmet and melt them down to cheese curds! You all have 24 hours to comply. Have fun."_

The TV turned back to static before displaying a large flurry of activity as the newsroom was frantically yelling back and forth over the connection hijacking. Maddie was too stunned to do anything about it, though. She was aware of Jack's large arm pulling her close.

"Don't worry, Mads. Everything will be fine. You'll see." He murmured comfortingly. Though, inside, he was raging against the figure. He didn't know who it was or why he wanted his wife, but no one messed with his family.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging at the door.

* * *

 **I don't own Danny Phantom.**

 **I hope you enjoyed.**

 **-Crow**


End file.
